The Canadian Integrated Approach to Economic Surveys

Marie Brodeur, Peter Koumanakos, Jean Leduc, Éric Rancourt, Karen Wilson

Statistics Canada

International Workshop on Economic Census

Beijing, July 26-29, 2005

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Overview of the presentation

1. Scope of the presentation 2. Background 3. Core Underlying Principles 4. Survey Characteristics 5. Business Register 6. Sampling 7. Achievements 8. Enterprise Financial Program 9. Management of UES 10. Future Directions

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1. Scope of the presentation

Paper provides details about our complete integrated approachSystems of National AccountsBusiness RegisterUnified enterprise Survey (UES)

Establishment level Enterprise level

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2. UES Background

Major project to improve provincial statistics (1996)

Reliable Annual Provincial Data for the Allocation of HST Revenues (SNA I-O Tables)

More detailed Industry & Commodity data Creation of Enterprise Statistics Division (ESD) UES Pilot (RY 1997) -- 7 surveys Gradual Expansion of Surveys; Covers 75% of

GDP

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3. Core Underlying Principles

Use of Single, Unduplicated Frame -- the BR

Expended coverage

Common Sample Design Methodology

Integrated Questionnaire -- common / simple language; harmonized concepts / variables

Data collection at the Statistical Establishment level

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3. Core Underlying Principles

Common generic processing systems and methods

Centralized warehouse

Head Office Survey

Maximum Use of Tax Data

Annual Profiling of Large Enterprises

Enterprise Portfolio Managers

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4. Survey Characteristics

Separate Enterprise & Establishment Surveys 42 Establishment Surveys Over 55,000 collection entities representing

about 68,000 establishments (17K replaced by tax for RY 2004)

Centralized Collection -- $3.5 million budget Smallest businesses estimated through tax

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5. Business Register (BR)

BR covers all sectors Incorporated and unincorporated businesses Complex and simple enterprises Structure

Legal Operational Statistical (Enterprise & Establishment)

Updated with Administrative Data

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6. Sampling

Time-in sample is managed by sample control file (SCF)

Stratified Random Sample Industry (NAICS 4) Province Size

1 Take-all stratum 2 Take-some strata (50% of units replaced by tax) Take-none strata (under Royce-Maranda thresholds)

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Sampling Process

BR(2.3M businesses)

Survey Universe File(2M businesses)

Sample Control File(700K businesses)

Survey Interface File38K CEs / Questionnaires

Tax Est’d (1.3M)

UES Sample (70K businesses)

Tax Replacements17K CEs

55K CEs

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7. Achievements

Timeliness Centralized Processing Systems and

Databases Use of Tax Data Respondent Burden Reduction

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7a. Timeliness

Very problematic during start-up years Many processing systems in development Problems with questionnaires

Task force created in 2001 Target: 15 months after reference year For RY 2003, all surveys between 12-15

month period

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7b. Centralized Processing Systems and Databases

Develop centralized systems Move away from stand-alone Single point of access for security

Integrated Questionnaire Metadata System

Edit and imputation Allocation and Estimation Data Warehouse

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Collection

Mailout(38K CEs)

Pre-Contact(17K Businesses)

Edit / Verification(BLAISE)

Receipt(75% target)

Delinquent Follow-UpCapture / Imaging

“Clean” Records

Score Function

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Post-Collection Processing

Pre-Grooming

Allocation / Estimation

Edit & Imputation

“Clean” Records

Central Data Store

Subject Matter Review & Correction

Tool

Tax Data

USTART

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7c. Use of Tax data

Significant process since 1997 Close to 600,000 small simple

establishments (under threshold) - Macro adjustment

17,000 additional simple establishments Tax data used in editing and imputation Result

Almost 65% of units replaced by tax data

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7d. Respondent Burden Reduction

Reduced size of questionnaires From 12-14 pages to 4-5 pages

Use of the Chart of Accounts Related to the use of tax data Ombudsman function Enterprise Portfolio Managers Result

40% reduction of # of hours between 2000 to 2004

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8. Enterprise Financial Program

Monitor the size, the financial structure and position of the corporate sector

Business Register Survey of complex enterprises over $250

millions in revenues or assets Consolidated Balance Sheets and Income

Statements, corporate taxation Use of Tax data

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9. Management of the UES

ESD provides functional support and coordination A series of committees is charged with process

clarification & decision making

Project Management Team

Operations Management Committee

FrameOperations

SamplingTax Data

OperationsContent /Collection

ProcessingOperations

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10. Future Directions

SID/Culture Stats survey integration and content harmonisation into UES

Change Management Team

Sign-off process

“Holistic Response Management” strategy Business Register Redesign

Welcome new surveys

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